Dear Mayor and Councillors

As
you are aware, there has been some discussion in the local paper as to
Mr Tate's apparent interest in developing a ship terminal in the Seaway
on the Gold Coast Spit.

You
may also be aware that Save Our Spit Alliance has consistently opposed
such a commercial development for sound economic, environmental and
social reasons. If you are unaware of the history of this protracted and
highly successful community campaign, please see www.saveourspit.com,
which contains much of the background. You will recall that the Beattie
government decided not to pursue a terminal after an Environmental
Impact Study was conducted by GHD, which concluded that even with a
concrete commercial marina in Marine Stadium factored in, a ship
terminal would "not be economically viable". Likewise, the Bligh
government decided not to allow a concrete marina in Marine Stadium -
for reasons of respecting the free, open community value of such a
place.

Mr
Tate, perhaps you need to refresh yourself as to this report and its
conclusions, given you have publicly represented that a ship terminal in
the Seaway is commercially a "no brainer" which would recoup its
expenses within two (2) years. We believe that this representation is
inaccurate and misleading to any potential investor, much less the Gold
Coast community.

As
the GCCC is substantially reshaped after the last election, we would
remind Councillors that while Mr Tate announced his policy for a
terminal via the GCB within 48 hours of the vote, every other mayoral
candidate opposed a ship terminal on The Spit. Every other candidate.
Those candidates won 63% of the primary vote collectively; Mr Tate won
approx 37% as we understand it. Given this statistic, any suggestion
that Mr Tate has a 'mandate' to pursue a ship terminal on The Spit is
inaccurate.

We wish to invite all councillors to 'LIKE' our new official page at www.facebook.com/SaveOurSpit.
That way, you can see what Gold Coasters really think about Mr Tate's
sadly rehashed ship terminal proposals, in real time, in real words. We
must also remind councillors that the then-largest petition ever
presented to Qld parliament, was from Save Our Spit - over 38,000
signatures - opposing a ship terminal on The Spit. Those people have not
gone anywhere.

We
can only ask that you take heed of the voice of the people and start
focussing on creating and devising other more positive and useful
policies to help the Gold Coast to thrive economically, socially and
environmentally. Taking public open space and waterways for a dirty ship
terminal is not the answer.